One Thing Leads to Another

Have you ever experienced one-thing-leading-to-another? I mean, something that might be very simple leads to one thing, which leads to another, and pretty soon you are doing something entirely different, or more involved than you thought you would be doing?  Welcome to life at my house… especially the last few months.

February 28th our washing machine started leaking. It looked like it might be a simple fix. But then again, maybe not. We knew if we called a repairman to fix it, there would be a “premium traveling” charge added because of where we live. I also knew that if we were going to call a repairman to fix the washing machine, I would also want the rubber gasket on the front door opening to be replaced. We would be looking at a $250-300 repair – on a machine that I have been looking for a reason to replace. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. Luckily it was a holiday weekend and stores were having appliances sales. We purchased a new full-size stackable washing machine and dryer at a great price. The only negative was that they were back-ordered and couldn’t be delivered until May 17th.  Not a problem, I said. We have been wanting to put new flooring down in the laundry room, and this would give us the opportunity to get rid of the old washer and dryer, and get the new flooring put down before the delivery date.

But if we were going to install tile in the laundry room, this would be the time to also put it in the downstairs guest bathroom. After all, we were going to be using the same time tile for both rooms, and using the same tile installer. And he wouldn’t want to come “all the up here” for just one room. So we had to demolish and remove the bathroom cabinet and remove the toilet. If we were getting the tile and new cabinet installed, I wanted to replace the huge mirror that was essentially glued to the wall. So that had to be removed, and drywall had to be replaced.

Going back to the laundry room, once the floor was put in, we would have to paint the room before the stackables would be delivered and installed. Who wants to move those heavy things once they are in place so the walls can be painted? Not my husband. Certainly not me. Well, I couldn’t anyway, so that’s not even an option.

And if I was going to paint the walls in the laundry room, then it was time to update the cabinets too.  I had thought of painting the oak cabinets (even though it hurts my heart to paint oak!), so now was the time to do it, right?

So we went ahead with our plans and had the tile installed in the laundry room, painted the room, and painted the cabinets. We removed the bathroom cabinet and toilet, scheduled a contractor to remove the mirror and replace the drywall, and had the floor tile installed. 

We were ready for the delivery of our new washer and dryer yesterday! We were excited – and had a bunch of clothes to wash.

But the company delivered the wrong dryer – which meant we had to refuse the entire delivery.

We still have no washer and dryer. Hopefully, they will come next Wednesday, as promised, with the correct appliances.

All of this because of a potential $250-300 washing machine repair?????  Yeah. It’s just the way my mind thinks. 

Here’s a photo of the closet in the laundry room – after the first coat of paint. The second coat evened out the streaks and provided a really warm tone. LOVE IT! 

(Shiitake by Sherwin Williams). 

 

 

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Comments (6)

  1. Been there, done that! For sure. Your story had me laughing and I even read it to my husband. Yes, we can relate. Now we want to see pictures of the finished project after the new washer and dryer are delivered and set up. Thanks for sharing, Karen!

    May 19, 2018 at 10:24 am
    • Karen

      I’m so glad I’m not alone! It made me smile that you shared the post with your husband. Updated pictures next week, if all goes well!

      May 19, 2018 at 10:30 am
  2. FussBudget

    I really enjoyed this post and it was a good warning to everyone about how a simple project can easily get out of control. Everything you did made perfect sense except for the price tag at the end. Well, you ended up with a great looking closet and I’m sure the bathroom is the same. You gave me a smile today.

    May 20, 2018 at 2:58 am
  3. Lynn Hoyt

    In addition, any repair, especially anything that has to do with water, means at least a doz trips into town (15mi away). And hubby think he can do it all. We did replace our washer/dryer a couple years ago, right about the same time we put wood flooring in the hallway and bathroom right next to the laundry room, so of course took out and sold the old units and put wood in there too. We had already put up cabinets, ones we took down from the kitchen when we remodeled it. But I’m left with a problem, the new set is so big, (front load) I can’t get to the cabinet behind it.

    May 20, 2018 at 7:39 am
  4. Steph

    That is quite a story! Thanks for warning the rest of us. ; – ) I imagine many fix-it projects may get extra thought now! Can’t wait to see the end result.

    May 24, 2018 at 11:53 am
    • Karen

      LOL.. Yes, it seems like most of my projects are like that! 🙂

      May 25, 2018 at 1:16 pm
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